[go: up one dir, main page]

    Release calendarTop 250 moviesMost popular moviesBrowse movies by genreTop box officeShowtimes & ticketsMovie newsIndia movie spotlight
    What's on TV & streamingTop 250 TV showsMost popular TV showsBrowse TV shows by genreTV news
    What to watchLatest trailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb SpotlightFamily entertainment guideIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsEmmysSan Diego Comic-ConSummer Watch GuideToronto Int'l Film FestivalSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll events
    Born todayMost popular celebsCelebrity news
    Help centerContributor zonePolls
For industry professionals
  • Language
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Watchlist
Sign in
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Use app
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • FAQ
IMDbPro

La main du diable

  • 1943
  • Tous publics
  • 1h 22m
IMDb RATING
7.3/10
1.9K
YOUR RATING
La main du diable (1943)
B-HorrorDark FantasySupernatural FantasySupernatural HorrorFantasyHorror

Roland Brissot bought for a nickel a talisman that gives him love, fame, and wealth. The talisman is a cut left hand, and it works perfectly. Of course, there is nothing free in this world, ... Read allRoland Brissot bought for a nickel a talisman that gives him love, fame, and wealth. The talisman is a cut left hand, and it works perfectly. Of course, there is nothing free in this world, and after one year, the devil comes and asks for his due.Roland Brissot bought for a nickel a talisman that gives him love, fame, and wealth. The talisman is a cut left hand, and it works perfectly. Of course, there is nothing free in this world, and after one year, the devil comes and asks for his due.

  • Director
    • Maurice Tourneur
  • Writers
    • Jean-Paul Le Chanois
    • Gérard de Nerval
  • Stars
    • Pierre Fresnay
    • Josseline Gaël
    • Noël Roquevert
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.3/10
    1.9K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Maurice Tourneur
    • Writers
      • Jean-Paul Le Chanois
      • Gérard de Nerval
    • Stars
      • Pierre Fresnay
      • Josseline Gaël
      • Noël Roquevert
    • 23User reviews
    • 12Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Photos3

    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster

    Top cast36

    Edit
    Pierre Fresnay
    Pierre Fresnay
    • Roland Brissot
    Josseline Gaël
    Josseline Gaël
    • Irène
    Noël Roquevert
    Noël Roquevert
    • Mélisse
    Guillaume de Sax
    • Gibelin
    Palau
    Palau
    • Le petit homme
    Pierre Larquey
    Pierre Larquey
    • Ange
    André Gabriello
    • Le dîneur
    • (as Gabriello)
    Antoine Balpêtré
    Antoine Balpêtré
    • Denis
    Marcelle Rexiane
    • Madame Denis
    • (as Rexiane)
    André Varennes
    • Le colonel
    Georges Chamarat
    Georges Chamarat
    • Duval
    Jean Davy
    • Le mousquetaire
    Jean Despeaux
    • Le boxeur
    André Bacqué
    • Le moine Maximus Léo
    • (uncredited)
    René Blancard
    René Blancard
    • Le chirurgien
    • (uncredited)
    Jean Coquelin
    • Le notaire
    • (uncredited)
    Jacques Courtin
    • Le gendarme
    • (uncredited)
    Georges Douking
    Georges Douking
    • Le tire-laine
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Maurice Tourneur
    • Writers
      • Jean-Paul Le Chanois
      • Gérard de Nerval
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews23

    7.31.9K
    1
    2
    3
    4
    5
    6
    7
    8
    9
    10

    Featured reviews

    Michael_Elliott

    Excellent Horror Film Needs More Attention

    Carnival of Sinners (1943)

    *** 1/2 (out of 4)

    Excellent French horror film from director Maurice Tourneur about a talentless painter (Pierre Fresnay) who is given the opportunity to buy a mysterious chest and with it a certain power that will bring greatness and fame. It doesn't take long for the painter to realize that he's actually sold his soul to the Devil and he must try and find a way to get it back. I had never heard of this film until it recently was shown on Turner Classic Movies and afterwards I really couldn't wait to tell others about it. It's really hard to believe that this movie isn't better known because it's certainly one of the best horror films from this period that manages to hold up extremely well and it remains quite creepy. The story of one's soul being sold isn't exactly original but director Tourneur does a masterful job at showing how one could go crazy trying to figure out a way to gain his soul back. I really loved the way the film drew you into the greatness that would come with fame and riches and it also did a great job at showing how difficult it would be to give this stuff up. The film is quite thoughtful in the way it shows the highs and lows of this mysterious box and the finale is just downright chilling to watch. Fresnay is terrific in his role, which requires him to act out various emotions throughout the picture. I thought the actor did a fantastic job and especially during the scenes where he begins to realize the mistake he's made. The supporting cast is equally strong as well. The film has some wonderful cinematography and the use of shadows is quite impressive. CARNIVAL OF SINNERS shows what a talented director can do to a familiar story and in the end this here is certainly one of the better films of the genre and deserves much more attention.
    8boblipton

    A Master Of Screen Images

    One-handed Pierre Fresnay comes to a second-rate inn on the Franco-Italian border. The guests are suspicious as he tells the story of how he bought a hand from the Devil, a hand that turned him into the greatest painter of the age. He bought it cheap, but he had to sell it to someone else before the Devil came for his soul, and for every day that passed, the price would double. By the time he looked up from his triumphs, who could buy this hand that would turn its bearer into the greatest in his chosen field?

    Maurice Turneur had been directing for 30 years by this point, and his silent work was filled with glorious, painterly images. Here he is working in black and white, but his monochrome images are startling in their limning, and the story and performances peerless.
    10EdgarST

    A Date with the Devil

    A few years ago I was attracted to the work of French filmmaker Maurice Tourneur, after reading his IMDb profile. I already knew that his film «La Main du Diable» had a cult following, and that he was the father of Jacques Tourneur, the famous director of «Cat People», «I Walked with a Zombie», and «Out of the Past», but I had no idea of his own prestige and importance in the history of cinema.

    During the silent film period, Maurice Tourneur was as popular as David W. Griffith and Thomas Harper Ince, and his movies had a strong influence due to their visual design refinement. I am yet to see his version of James Fenimore Cooper's «Last of the Mohicans» (1920), selected to the National Film Registry by the US Congress, but I have already seen his adaptations of Maurice Maeterlinck's «The Blue Bird» (1918, also selected to the National Film Registry), and Joseph Conrad's «Victory» (1919).

    I have just finished watching «La Main du Diable», a French production made during the last stage of his career, when he returned to France, tired of the commercialism of the Hollywood films. Connections are often made between Nazi occupation in France and certain films that are or seem to be allegories of this state of things, as Carné's «Les Visiteurs du Soir», or Clouzot's «Le Corbeau», so I would not be surprised if there are analysis linking «La Main du Diable» to Nazi presence in French territory.

    If it's true that this reading is possible and plausible, that is fine, but the film is fascinating as it is, a moral tale with elements of fantasy and subtle horror: in an Alpine hotel, the boring confinement of a group of travelers trapped by an avalanche, brightens up with the sudden arrival of a nervous man, with a stump and a small box under his arm. After the box is stolen during a blackout, the travelers become a captive audience (as we, the spectators), listening to the man as he tell his story, from being a luckless painter, to buying a sinister talisman that brought him fame, love and fortune, and being cheated by the Devil.

    The story of course is similar to other cinematic pacts with the Devil, as those made by Faust, the Prague student, Jabez Stone in «The Devil and Daniel Webster», the phantom of the Paradise theater, the investigator in «Angel Heart», or the young lawyer in «The Devil's Advocate», among others. But Tourneur, as Murnau in his «Faust», fascinates us with his visual reading of Gérard de Nerval's novel, and creates a glowing monochromatic world of oblique lines, shadows, masks, and an affable little Devil, played by a smiling old man who, behind the appearance of a helpless civil servant, hides his treacherous essence.

    The film is a well-mounted clockwork that reaches its expected conclusion with the same punctuality the Devil demands of his creditors. If by chance it crosses your path, don't miss «La Main du Diable», a work that only asks for 78 minutes of your time.
    7SnoopyStyle

    French monkey paw story

    A hotel in the Alps is filled with guests after an avalanche left them stranded. Roland Brissot walks out of the snow with a fake left hand and a box. The police comes looking for someone fitting his description. The lights go out and Roland's box goes missing. The other guests are suspicious of him. He recounts his story starting from a year ago. He's a failing painter with girl trouble. He's offered a talisman which would fulfill his gift.

    This is a French horror film titled La main du diable. It's basically the monkey paw horror story. Losing a hand is interesting. I like the general concept and its history. I don't really like paying back the money which seems to require some math work. I still like passing it from one person to the next. It's an interesting spin on this horror story.
    8gbill-74877

    Entertaining

    I'm a sucker for Faustian stories, and this one is such a delight. It has an Expressionistic, visual flair to it with charming special effects, and I was impressed that it was made in 1943. It's not a leap to believe that Maurice Tourneur saw in this story a symbol of Vichy France.

    The story has been told with so many variations over the years, some before this film but so many more afterwards that it may not feel all that fresh. In fact, it may feel a little like a (very good) 80 minute Twilight Zone episode. I liked how it zipped along with great pace, but managed to get in little bits of humor in along the way, i.e. The painter saying this about the airs he put on: "I cultivated my sloppiness, wore a new dirty shirt each day, carefully mussed my hair and spouted dazzling theories," or the crowd clamoring at the open bar at the gallery opening. I also liked the characterizations of the devil ('le petit homme,' Palau) and the struggling painter (interestingly also derided by his girlfriend as a 'little man,' Pierre Fresnay). Showing the history of the seductive power of the disembodied hand, with the recurring elements of never being satisfied and ultimate ruin, was also a wonderful, symbolic touch.

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The premise of each owner of the talisman having to sell at a loss was first used in Robert Louis Stevenson's 1891 short story "The Bottle Imp" and creates a paradox similar to "The Unexpected Hanging".
    • Quotes

      Roland Brissot: I began painting her portrait and courting her. I didn't get far with either.

    • Connections
      Featured in Laissez-passer (2002)

    Top picks

    Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations
    Sign in

    FAQ13

    • How long is Carnival of Sinners?Powered by Alexa

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • April 21, 1943 (France)
    • Country of origin
      • France
    • Language
      • French
    • Also known as
      • La main enchantée
    • Production company
      • Continental Films
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 22m(82 min)
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit page

    More to explore

    Recently viewed

    Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
    Get the IMDb App
    Sign in for more accessSign in for more access
    Follow IMDb on social
    Get the IMDb App
    For Android and iOS
    Get the IMDb App
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • License IMDb Data
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Your Ads Privacy Choices
    IMDb, an Amazon company

    © 1990-2025 by IMDb.com, Inc.